KT Tunstall Biography

Scottish singer songwriter KT Tunstall came to everyone’s attention after her performance on 'Later With Jools Holland' in the autumn of 2004.

She might well have stayed obscure had U.S. rapper Nas not pulled out of his performance. Tunstall was drafted in at the last minute and did a show-stopping version of her Bo Diddley-style song “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree”.

Katie Tunstall was raised in St Andrews, on the East coast of Scotland. She was adopted as a baby by a Scottish couple, she was always aware that she was adopted. KT was musical from an early age, learning to play piano, flute and guitar as a teenager.

KT moved to the USA, hungry for experiences and independence, she gained a scholarship to Kent School in Connecticut, New England. Whilst out there KT spent time on a hippy commune and formed her first band, The Happy Campers.

She returned to the UK to do a music course at Royal Holloway College in London, before finally moving back to St Andrews, and getting involved in the local alt/folk music scene. KT served her musical apprenticeship with a large group of Scottish folk musicians, known as the Fence Collective, and spent years with them, gigging all over Europe.